Golden's Charley Mace will attempt to climb Mount Everest this spring via the West Ridge route pioneered in 1963 by Tom Hornbein.

Heard a wonderful lecture Wednesday night by Jake Norton at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden. Norton and Charley Mace, both of Golden, attempted to follow in the footsteps of the great Tom Hornbein this spring on the West Ridge of Mount Everest, along with Brent Bishop and Dave Morton.

They failed because it was a dangerous year on Everest. Lack of snow over the winter and spring left bulletproof ice and persistent rockfall on their route. They tried several times to reach the ridge but failed each time and finally gave up. It was just too unsafe.

Hornbein, a legendary climber whose book, “Everest: The West Ridge” is my favorite book on mountaineering, was in the audience. His ascent of the West Ridge with Willi Unsoeld in 1963 was audacious and bold. They weren’t interested in the route Edmund Hillary climbed 10 years before. They preferred to risk failure pursuing the unknown, trying something that hadn’t been done before.